Espanyol eliminated by Alcorcon; Alaves, Celta Vigo, Athletic advance

Espanyol couldn't clinch passage into the last 16 against Alcorcon. Getty Images

La Liga mainstays Espanyol were dumped out of the Copa del Rey at the last-32 stage as second-tier Alcorcon forced a penalty shootout victory in Barcelona.

Lowly Alcorcon had clinched a 1-1 draw back in the Madrid suburbs and repeated the scoreline at El Prat as Alvaro Gimenez opened the scoring before a last-gasp leveller from Espanyol's Hernan Perez.

No goals were scored in extra-time and, after sticking away four of their spot-kicks, misses by Gerard Moreno and Jose Manuel Jurado sent Alcorcon through.

Finding that securing passage into the last 16 could be more straightforward on Thursday evening were top-flight clubs Alaves, Celta Vigo and Athletic Bilbao.

Alaves ran out 6-0 aggregate winners over Gimnastic thanks in part to goals from Edgar Mendez and Nenad Krsticic, with Ruben Sobrino converting a penalty after Otar Kakabadze was sent off for the Segunda Division side on the half-hour mark.

Marcelo Diaz scored the only goal as Celta Vigo turned their 1-0 first-leg lead over Murcia into a 2-0 success, while Athletic Bilbao shattered any illusions Racing Santander might have had about building on their impressive performance back in Cantabria.

Having lost only 2-1 earlier in the month, Racing were taught a lesson as Xabier Etxeita, Raul Garcia and Inaki Williams notched to clinch a 5-1 aggregate win.